Yeast and Clostridia is a problem in silage for farmers as contaminated silage may result in poor animal health and milk quality. Clostridia can produce toxins that, when consumed, acts as neurotoxins, it may also cause blown cheeses if the Clostridia contaminates milk. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cause, effect and interaction of yeasts and Clostridia in silage. Clostridia are microorganisms which are strictly anaerobic and consume carbohydrates and protein in the silage. Yeast is a fungus that is facultative aerobic and feed on carbohydrates in the silage.

The calf extrator?s function has been studied, through measuring traction and how this varies in different situations, in comparison with corresponding manual traction situations. This was done against the background that excessive force at assisted calvings at dystocia can mean life threatening damages on the calf such as grave acidosis, vertebral fractures, femur fractures and rib fractures. The calf extractor has earlier been measured to pull with greater force than the established maximum force of ?two strong men?.

Botulism is a serious disease with high mortality that can affect horses. Due to this about 20-30 percent of the horses in Sweden are vaccinated against botulism. The purpose of this study was to see how common botulism is in the Swedish horse population and to se if a connection between feeding with haylage and botulism could be seen. In addition to this, the study aimed to find how common vaccination against botulism is among Swedish horses and on what grounds the diagnosis botulism is made. Medical records of horses being diagnosed with botulism at all the major large animal hospitals in Sweden between 1995-2005 were searched. In addition to this the database where general practitioners report their cases as well as the cases with botulism reported to the insurance companies were included. The results of this study show that only 0,03 percent of the Swedish horse population has been diagnosed with botulism during the time period this study covers. In all the cases included in this study the diagnosis was made based on clinical signs and in none of the cases verification by isolating the toxin was possible. In all cases where forage is noted in the journals the horse has been feed haylage which indicate that there is a connection between the use of haylage and botulism. Three horses died despite being partially vaccinated against botulism type B which indicate that a correct vaccination has to be done before the horse get any protection or that the correct diagnosis was not botulism type B..

Syftet med studien var att explorativt undersöka vilken betydelse hästen har för brittiska soldater och veteraner som varit ute i krig och återvänt med någon form av ohälsa. Studiens frågeställningar var: Hur används hästen på Horseback UK  som en del i tillfrisknandet för brittiska soldater och veteraner som varit ute i krig? Hur beskriver brittiska soldater och veteraner som varit ute i krig hästens betydelse för livskvalitén? För att besvara frågeställningarna tillämpades en metod som bestod av kvalitativa intervjuer. Intervjuerna utfördes på Horseback UK i Skottland som är en välgörenhetsorganisation, skapad för att ge en trygg och säker miljö. De arbetar med hjälp av hästar för att hjälpa de som tjänstgör eller tjänstgjort i den brittiska armén och kommit tillbaka med någon form fysisk eller psykisk ohälsa.

This master thesis was conducted in order to investigate the effects of the browsing species Yeheb on animal tissues in Swedish landrace goats and to make a literature review in order to increase the knowledge of the importance of this plant for livestock production in Somalia. The evergreen Yeheb bush is a very important feeding source for grazing and browsing animals in Somalia during the dry period. Yeheb contains cordeauxiaquinone that stains the bones of the animals red/pink, which has been an increasing problem when exporting meat to foreign countries. In an experiment, two goats were fed dry and fresh leaves from the Yeheb bush for one and two months, respectively. The goats did not feed the intended amount of dry leaves, since the supply and palatability was not as high as estimated.

This master thesis was conducted in order to investigate the effects of the browsing species Yeheb on animal tissues in Swedish landrace goats and to make a literature review in order to increase the knowledge of the importance of this plant for livestock production in Somalia. The evergreen Yeheb bush is a very important feeding source for grazing and browsing animals in Somalia during the dry period. Yeheb contains cordeauxiaquinone that stains the bones of the animals red/pink, which has been an increasing problem when exporting meat to foreign countries. In an experiment, two goats were fed dry and fresh leaves from the Yeheb bush for one and two months, respectively. The goats did not feed the intended amount of dry leaves, since the supply and palatability was not as high as estimated.

Mountain holding in the 21st century ? difficulties and possibilities This study examines the difficulties and possibilities that mountain holding farmers have today. The following questions were considered: i) Who is cultivating mountain holdings today? ii) Which is the most important reason to keep animals there? iii) What kind of subsidies are most common? iv) What kinds of animals and what breeds are the most common? v) For how long period of time are the animals kept at the mountain holdings every season? vi) How are the fundamental regulations in the animal welfare law being followed, and are there any problems/conflicts in keeping animals at the mountain holdings? vii) What meaning do the animals have for the farmers and what are the farmer?s thoughts about the future? A survey based on these issues was sent out to 107 mountain holdings farmers with animals on grazing land, where 59 % submitted a response. The results showed that knowledge on how to keep animals at the mountain holdings was overall good.

This thesis has been carried out in New Zealand in collaboration with the University of Waikato. In association with Dr. Mike Duke the purpose of this work is to investigate whether two different software for modeling of photovoltaic systems are useful in the teaching of solar energy.The next ten years grid-connected photovoltaic systems are assumed to increase and therefore also a rising demand for people with engineering knowledge are to be predicted. For engineer students with a focus on solar energy a more practical teaching with design software´s can be a good method to make the students comprehend more when it comes to large scale photovoltaic systems and be more prepared for working life.The software´s used is called Transient System Simulation (TRNSYS) and Photovoltaic Systems (PVSYST) which are both well used throughout the world. To assess the reliability of the software´s, a reference solar power plant at 16.1 kWp installed capacity are used, which consists of photovoltaic modules from four different manufacturers.

Tail-biting in pigs is an animal welfare issue and in Sweden during 2002 the producers lost tree million Swedish crowns because of tail biting. This economic loss depends on the pigs which are discarded at slaughter because of tail biting. Tail biting can be separated into two stages, "pre-injury" and "injury". The aim of this study is to investigate if tail biting depends on environment or genetic background.A lot of research on the environments effects on the behaviour of pigs but not so much on the genetic effects has been performed. The frequency of tail biting in pig farms influence among others of environment enrichment, ventilation, gender and breed of the pig.

This study concerns congenital defects in pigs; umbilical and scrotal hernia, cryptorchidism, kyphosis, splay legs, anal atresia, intersexuality and congenital tremor. The aim was to describe and estimate the prevalence of these defects and estimate the heritability for the most frequent defects, scrotal hernia and cryptorchidism in purebred Swedish Hampshire, Landrace and Yorkshire populations. Furthermore, information and opinions from herdsmen in commercial herds was collected and analysed. A low proportion of congenital defect pigs is of importance both from animal welfare and economic point of view. The accuracy of registration of the presence of defects in the litters has a decisive role for the ability to select against these defects.

In the beginning of the 1990?s ratite breeding for meat production was introduced in many European countries, including Sweden. The knowledge of ostrich farming and diseases of ratites is increasing internationally but is still often limited among veterinarians. This report consists of a literature study and a summary of pathology findings from ratites submitted for necropsy to the National Veterinary Institute (SVA) in Uppsala, during 1995 to 2001. The purpose is to give a general introduction to ostrich and ratite breeding and to give an overview of the most common diseases. The necropsy data from 1995 to 2001, indicate that many of the diseases are management related rather than caused by infectious agents. Due to cold climate ostrich breeders in Sweden need to supply well designed buildings and good care of the animal.

First time labelling occurred was when animal owners marked their cattle in order to distinguish the differences. The need for labelling was added when the trade had expanded during Roman times in order for the customers to know who manufactured their craft. Trademarks are characterized as a way to distinguish one's own product or service from someone else. The marketing purpose is to create an identity. The brand has an important role as an effective competitive tool for businesses.A brand can have many different functions, which will simplify a customer's decision making process in selecting a service or product.

The Sheep is the oldest livestock, and has been in Sweden for 4-5000 years. Thanks to that you can obtain skin, as well wool and meat. Therefore it was an important animal. Sheep production has increased, strongly lately due to the pasture support. The purpose of this paper is to find out what kind of different EU-subsidies you can get and to compare the subsidies in Öland and the main land. Sheeps are very good conservationist with grass, bushes and herbs, because of different grazing lands hardness and growth is it important to control the pasturage strain. A good way to regulate this is to have different enclosed pasture to switch between. I have been studying the different EU-subsidies.

The sun is essential to life on earth and no matter where you are, there is a constant need ofenergy. Nearly 800 000 years ago man learned for the first time to use fire in a controlled way.Since then, fire has given us the opportunity to inhabit places despite a cold climate. In Swedenthe resident sector accounts for a major part of the total consumption of energy. In a time whenenvironmental issues and greenhouse effects are increasing, we also see a future of rising energyprices. With this perspective, we have in this bachelor thesis in the Building Environment at theRoyal Institute of Technology, KTH, in Stockholm decided to focus on the renewable energysource, solar energy.The energy from solar radiation is a free resource and does not have any negative effects uponthe environment.

The demand för Swedish pork meat is increasing every day. This leads to agricultural farming having to develop as an industry, with larger and more rationalised units to make the farming more effective and to raise the financial profit. The consequence of this is that it affects the animals when their surroundings become more industrial. The pig´s natural behaviour becomes restricted by the limitations of the facilities, which leads to them becoming understimulated. Helena Kummel, a teacher at Munkagård upper secondary school and also an educated animal inspector has developed a prototype that could possibly replace the pig´s natural rooting behaviour inside the barn. The porpuse of this report is to study "bökboxen" in the gilts´actual living enviroment, through qualitative- and quantitative analysis.